Airborne 12.09.16

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Airborne 12.09.16

Current Customers Have First Shot At Orders

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 05.30.08 1430
MDT: They're gonna do it. Eclipse Aviation announced
Friday at the company's 10th Anniversary "E-rrival" owners
gathering the single-engine Eclipse Concept Jet will be brought to
market... and, those customers will have the first shot at
reserving their own jets.

Now rebranded the Eclipse 400, the four-seat
aircraft is slated to enter the marketplace in late 2011, with a
price of $1.35 million in June 2008 dollars. Eclipse notes that's
anywhere from seven percent, to 107 percent, less
expensive than other SEJs currently under development.

"Ten months of quantitative and qualitative Eclipse
Concept Jet (ECJ) research has convinced us that this is absolutely
the right airplane for the emerging single-engine jet market,"
Raburn said. "The ECJ has elicited a tremendous emotional response
from current and potential customers alike – people just love
this airplane. We are excited to formally add this new aircraft to
the Eclipse Aviation product family."

Going against the established norm for most
single-engine jets now under development, Eclipse intends to
certify the 400 to FL410 -- 16,000 feet higher than the maximum
service ceiling for Diamond's D-Jet and the Cirrus "the-jet," and
6,000 feet higher than Piper aims for its PiperJet.

Those higher operating altitudes pay dividends in
fuel usage, however. At an estimated 330 knots, the
environmentally-friendly Eclipse 400 and its single Pratt &
Whitney Canada PW615F uses less than one pound of fuel per nautical
mile -- making it the world’s most fuel-efficient jet
aircraft. Eclipse aims for a full-fuel payload of 580 lbs, with a
maximum IFR range of 1,250 nautical miles.

Eclipse will offer first dibs on placing deposits
on an Eclipse 400 to current Eclipse 500 customers, as a reward for
sticking with the Albuquerque, NM-based planemaker through
difficult times.

Those customers will also receive an exclusive
$125,000 discount off the final delivery price, provided their
deposits are placed prior to July 25, 2008. Deposits from all
others will be accepted starting at EAA AirVenture in July
2008.

Which, perhaps, begs the question -- will the
Eclipse 400 strip orders from the slightly larger Eclipse 500... as
owners (and late-position holders) crunch the numbers and determine
they can do just fine with just four seats, and one engine, at
a substantially less-expensive price? Stay tuned.